Freer too fleet of foot for Taft's D

Neither Freer nor Taft had tasted the football playoffs in recent
years.

The Buckaroos will get to sample the second round, thanks in large
part to a ruthless approach.

Freer forced six Taft turnovers and kept the ball away from the
Greyhounds most of the night en route to a 35-14 victory in a IV-2A
bi-district matchup on Friday at Tuloso-Midway's Warrior Stadium.

Freer (9-2), in the playoffs for the first time since 2002, will
play either Universal City Randolph or Dilley in the IV-2A area round
next week. Taft, making its first postseason appearance in 13 years,
ended its season at 6-5.

"I'm so proud of our kids and everything they've done," Freer coach
Joseph Alvarado said. "They've done it with class and I tell you what,
it's a great feeling tonight."

The Buckaroos managed to play the game without attempting a single
pass. Freer ground out 305 rushing yards on 53 attempts, with four
different players getting eight or more carries.

"We thought about that at halftime," Alvarado said. "We looked at it
and they were giving us a heck of a look on defense, and we said we
needed to keep the ball away from them. It was very important that we
execute the way we did."

Taft trailed 13-0 before Chris Bradford's 7-yard touchdown pass to
Tudy Naranjo capped a 99-yard drive in the final minutes of the first
half. After the Buckaroos botched the second-half kickoff, the
Greyhounds got the ball on the Freer 44.

But the Buckaroos forced a turnover on the next play - one of their
four fumble recoveries - and took control on two short touchdown runs
by Fabian Eeds and Seve Alaniz.

"That was a big turning point in the game," Alvarado said.
"Football, especially in the playoffs, is a game of momentum, and we
told them that we needed to keep the momentum. That was real important
and the momentum shifted so much tonight that we were lucky to stay on
top and continue to execute the way we did."

Taft, meanwhile, was left to savor the memory of its unlikely
playoff run. The Greyhounds pulled off an upset win at Skidmore-Tynan
in last week's regular-season finale to end a 13-year postseason
drought.

"When you haven't been here in 13 years, you really don't know what
it's like," Greyhounds coach Pete Guajardo said. "But there are no
excuses. Coach Alvarado has a great team over there and they played
well. We just had too many turnovers. That's something that's been
plaguing us all year. It's something we've been able to overcome, but
tonight, we just weren't able to do it."